Denver Broncos / NFL

Peyton Manning-Tom Brady ranks among greatest sports rivalries of all time

The Broncos' Peyton Manning has the individual edge and soon is likely to win his fifth NFL most valuable player award. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

We see them as old. Well, maybe the creaky Peyton Manning more than the ageless Tom Brady, who must be using his supermodel wife's face cream, because he's forever 24. These guys are football old, sure, but someday they will be old old. And an elderly Manning will be at a restaurant valet stand, picking up his hover-Buick, and someone will shout from afar: "Hey, Manning. You could never beat Brady!"

They're eternally linked, these two Canton-bound quarterbacks, yet they divide a generation of fans debating which is better. Heading into the AFC championship game Sunday, the Broncos' Manning has won but four of 14 matchups against Brady's New England Patriots.

Their rivalry makes for the quintessential barroom debate. Manning, 37, probably will win his fifth league MVP award this year. He set NFL season records for touchdown passes and yards passing. But he's 1-for-2 in the Super Bowl. Brady? The 36-year-old QB has three title rings in five tries, as well as a significantly better playoff record than Manning, but lesser regular-season statistics.

Who's better? The debate will continue long after Sunday's game, but of this there is no uncertainty: Manning vs. Brady ranks among the all-time best sports rivalries.

"There's never been as frequent a matchup with this much marquee that I can think of. I think it transcends the NFL," said CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz, who will work Sunday's game. "And I'm not trying to get into hyperbole here. We're not going to get one more person to watch this game. It's something everyone wants to see. But this is tantamount to Ali-Frazier one more time. This is Palmer-Nicklaus. This is Bird-Magic. I'm not trying to create some sort of synthetic drama here.

This is as big as it gets."

Just as Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier was as big as it ever got in boxing, a rivalry that enraptured a nation at the height of the sport's popularity. The great heavyweights fought three times, with Frazier winning the first, "The Fight of the Century," which was Ali's first big bout since he had been stripped of his title after being convicted of draft evasion during the Vietnam War. Ali won the next two, including 1975's "Thrilla in Manila," which is possibly the greatest fight of all time, save for Rocky Balboa-Ivan Drago.

"The difference is that boxers compete against each other — Peyton Manning competes against the New England Patriots' defense on Sunday, and he and Brady are never on the field at the same time," said Bob Arum, Ali's famed promoter. "That really makes it a different kind of rivalry. ... And there was a lot of animosity that grew (between Ali and Frazier). If you take the situation like we have here, with Manning and Brady, I'd venture to say that you couldn't find one bad word that one said about the other. Not one. But that might be because they're not really competing against one another.

The Patriots' Tom Brady has a 10-4 advantage over Manning in head-to-head games and possesses three times as many Super Bowl rings. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

"Whoever wins the AFC championship game, it doesn't answer the question, because it may very well be that the Patriots throw up a defense that befuddles Manning, or vice versa. So you can't really settle it. But after the 14th round in Manila, when Frazier couldn't come out because he was blind by taking punches to the face, that settled it. At least that night, Ali was the better man."

Rivalries have different seeds

While the Ali-Frazier rivalry grew out of a mutual boiling hatred, the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry grew out of respect. Famously, the Boston Celtics star wasn't friends with the Los Angeles Lakers magician until the two spent time together on a commercial shoot. They became fast friends from that point forward, which only fueled the rivalry more. First, they faced off in the NCAA title game, won by Johnson and Michigan State. Then, representing the two coasts, the Hall of Famers faced off three times in the NBA Finals, with Bird winning the first one, in 1984, in a Game 7. Johnson's "Showtime" Lakers won the next two, in 1985 and 1987. Together they helped rejuvenate the NBA and pushed each other to further greatness. A generation of basketball fans reaped the benefits.

Tennis, naturally, lends itself to rivalries — John McEnroe-Bjorn Borg, Steffi Graf-Monica Seles, Andre Agassi-Pete Sampras and Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal, who played in every French Open final and Wimbledon final from 2006-08.

"Roger and Rafa had the same sort of underlines that they're different enough personalities to make it interesting, and stylistically they matched up in an entertaining way," said Andy Roddick, who reached five Grand Slam finals and won the 2003 U.S. Open. "And they both went about it the right way, and they both had a certain level of respect, which is probably different than the ones you saw in the '80s with McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, where they flat-out didn't like each other. So there are different ways to have a great rivalry."

But in terms of longevity and clashing styles, one tennis rivalry ascends and transcends.

"Chris Evert was No. 1 for years before Martina came along," said Craig Kardon, a former coach of Martina Navratilova's. "Martina was sort of this pudgy kid who grew into her body. They couldn't be more different with their personalities, but they became the best in the world. It developed into a rivalry because Chris was No. 1; Martina got in better shape and pushed Chris. Their lifetime match record was very close."

In fact, it was 43-37, Navratilova, a record spanning from 15 years. The cute and cunning Evert won three of four French Open finals against the bespectacled warrior Navratilova, but the Czech star went 9-1 against Evert in all other Grand Slam finals.

"It was about changing her game and being cognizant of how to beat the other player — it's always tweaking," Kardon said. "Martina always had a great support group around her — trainers, nutritionist, psychologists, and it forced Chris to hire different coaches and hitting partners and to get into better shape."

An army against the new king

In golf, Palmer ushered the sport into the modern era, captivating fans with his go-for-broke style, but along came Nicklaus to take the throne in the sport's passing-of-the-torch rivalry. Five times the two finished 1-2 in a major, and in a five-year span, 1962-66, they were the only two winners of the Masters.

The easy pick for a top NHL rivalry would be the blissful blitzkrieger Wayne Gretzky against his flipped-number counterpart Mario Lemieux, but the two seldom faced off (literally and figuratively).

But on Sunday in Denver, America's most popular sport will showcase its two most popular players, the two best players of their generation. It's Manning-Brady XV for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII.

"We're going to savor it, because you don't know how many more times you're ever going to get it again," Nantz said. "I know they're scheduled to play in the regular season again next year. But who knows? Maybe somebody's not going to be playing next year. When you say Brady-Manning, I defy anyone to say there's anything bigger in this league."

Denver Post columnist Benjamin Hochman offers five great American rivalries away from the sports arena:

Robert De Niro-Al Pacino

The two Italian-American actors starred "together" in The Godfather Part II" but were never on the screen at the same time. The actors defined a generation (really, perhaps two) with their intense performances.

Tupac Shakur-Notorious B.I.G.

Friends-turned-foes, the legendary 1990s rappers were emblazoned voices of the West Coast-East Coast rap rivalry. Each man was shot to death, and each man's music lives on today.

Ginger-Mary Ann

For a certain generation, these two characters from "Gilligan's Island" led to heated debates. Ginger Grant, played by Tina Louise, was the elegant actress, while Mary Ann Summers was the girl next door played by Dawn Wells.

'N Sync-Backstreet Boys

At the height of the boy band era, these two groups reigned supreme. With frosted tips and cheesy dance routines, these guys churned out hit after hit.

David Letterman-Jay Leno

Leno got "The Tonight Show" job over Letterman, so Letterman took his talents to CBS. The two became late-night rivals for decades.

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